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This section serves to expand your regular vocabulary. What separates the men from the boys (or the women from the girls, if you want to equalize things) is v o c a b u l a r y. We cannot stress this point enough. People who have a larger vocabulary have been shown to make more money and get promoted more often.
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What a beautiful word, whether in print or on the tongue. Put simply: an expert who understands, appreciates, discerns and can, therefore, judge the subtleties of something with artistic merit. Most often, the term is associated with the gastronomic pursuits of food and wine, but you don’t have to limit yourself to that specific use. See also: cognoscenti.
Example: As a life-long connoisseur of fine silk fabrics from around the world, the elder decorator was asked to help curate the museum’s retrospective exhibit on Japanese textiles.
An incident – such as an emergency situation – that may or may not occur, but that you want to plan for just in case. It’s something liable to happen as or result of something else happening (or not happening). More specifically, you will hear professionals (designers, architects, lawyers, even contractors, etc.) including a contingency fee in their pricing. This fee can be a cushion when the full scope of work is “iffy” or an amount that will be paid upon full and successful completion of the services. Extra info: This fee typically calculated as a percentage of the overall fee.
Example: Because she knew how unpredictable her client – the bank board of directors – could be, Dana built a 10 percent contingency into her estimate for remodeling the lobbies of all the branches in the northeast region.
If you can hold a conversation on a subject, then you (hopefully) know something about the topic of which you are speaking. Therefore, if you are conversant with a subject, then you have experience or knowledge with it. Capisce?
Example: Lori had quickly become conversant with all aspects of Building Information Modeling – so much so that she was now conducting all of the training sessions for the new employees.
Some readers may recognize a variation of this word from church: convocation (which means the act of convoking). And what are you officially doing at convocations? Gathering together to meet. However, anyone can convoke – not just worshipers.
Example: The first Wednesday of every fiscal quarter, the architectural firm’s partners virtually convoke the three international offices for strategic planning sessions.
A weird word that means fine, acceptable and satisfactory. Some alternate spellings: copacetic and copesetic.
Example: The moment she walked into the presentation, the client and real eastate broker abruptly stopped talking. “Is everything copasetic?” asked Anne both tentatively and hopefully.
We love this old-fashioned sounding verb, which means to pamper or treat and care for and protect in an overindulgent way. The noun form of the word means a pet, especially when referring to a little lamb. Maybe we love this word since there’s almost nothing cuter than a little lamb? We’re suckers for cute.
Example: Jackie was always shocked at how her cranky, hard line, “good ole boy” client would cosset his bulldog, even when the pooch would destroy the occasional piece of fine antique furniture she worked so hard to find for his immaculate executive office.
In slang terms, a coterie is what we more crudely refer to as a “click”: a close (often select or fashionable) crowd of people having with a mutual objective or interest. In a junior high context, that mutual interest is to be popular. In a country club context, that mutual interest is to be envied. Wait – are those basically the same thing?
Example: Jan hated it, but it was a fact of life. In every A&D firm she had ever worked for that had over 50 employees, impenetrable coteries of young architects and designers existed, making her feel like an outsider the moment she was assigned a desk.
Also seen spelled the French way: coup de grâce. Literally: a stroke of mercy. In that sense, it’s a little morbid. Commonly seen used in relation to the battlefield, it means the final shot or blow delivered to someone suffering with mortal injuries. However, in the day-to-day combat of life, it’s a little less frightening and used to describe a certain finishing act, blow or event.
Example: Jill, the sole owner’s representative at the weekly construction meetings, had held her wits about her during the project’s five month disastrous duration; however, she finally exploded in rage when the general contractor delivered the coup de grace: the painting subcontractor had disappeared, and with him, the rest of her client’s money.
It’s easy to remember this adjective. Just remember back on all of those “Tales From The Crypt” comic books and television episodes that scared the wits out of you. A crypt is a chamber in a mausoleum or a vault tucked away under the floor of a church, both of which are pretty creepy. Cryptic means occult, secret and/or puzzling and mysterious. See how easy that’s going to be to recall?
Example: In their weekly project meeting, Maddie was incredibly frustrated by the developer’s cryptic comments regarding the status of the shopping mall’s leasing statistics, as they seemed not to bode well for her firm’s future involvement on the multi-million dollar project.
A verb meaning to carefully choose from or select out of a group, usually in the effort to reduce the size of or improve the quality of the collection.
Example: Furniture manufacturers usually give fair warning to their dealers, sales representatives, and high-volume clients before culling a fabric or finish that has been in their line for years.
To remember what this word means, all you must do is think of Daffy Duck, the frivolously merry, over-the-top wacky, über silly Warner Bros. cartoon character who was continually making a fool of himself with his harebrained schemes.
Example: Virginia could only think of one reason that her boss had hired such a daft office manager to handle the vital day-to-day operations of their very complicated design business: the two must have been having an affair.
In the 1800s this term came about to describe a horse that unexpectedly emerges out of a pack of better known contenders to win – or at least place – in a race. In modern times, the expression is used to describe a candidate in any type of contest who either surprisingly defeats his opponents or is thought unlikely to win against his competitors. In other words, dark translates as shrouded in mystery.
Example: Josephine’s 8-person interior design firm emerged as a dark horse, beating out three 50+ firms to land the boutique hotel chain’s next three projects.
You know that a basement sits underneath a house. Use that image to remember the definition of this verb, which means to lower in character, status, esteem, or quality. Another way to remember it: when you lower the precious metal content of a coin, then you have to increase the base-metal content to make up for it, which results in lowering the coin’s true value. We realize that one's not as visually effective...
Example: After last week’s incident in the weekly employee meeting, Rob refused to be debased by his arrogant, self-serving, sociopath of a boss any longer, so he put in his letter of resignation, gathered up his belongings, and never looked back.
This word (which, if you lisp, will make you spit) commonly refers to plant life because it means falling off – i.e., deciduous leaves. You can even use this adjective to refer to the entire tree if it seasonally sheds. However, the term can also mean ephemeral, as in lasting only a short time. Since most people do not ever use it like this, you might see a few blank stares or puzzled faces if you choose to do so.
Example: Vicky thought that her client’s backyard harmonized with the home’s architecture perfectly, but she disliked the impracticality of millions of leaves accumulating in every nook and cranny due to prevalence of deciduous trees.
To bridge the gap between the student / educational community and the professional / manufacturer community of the interior design world, and not to die of boredom while we do it.
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IIDA, in partnership with Hospitality Design magazine, proudly announces the 17th Annual IIDA/Hospitality Design Product Design Competition honoring manufacturers and designers for achievements in furthering innovation, function and aesthetics in the hospitality industry. The entry deadline for the competitions is April 19, 2013. CLICK HERE to find out more about the competition.
Enough Said T-Shirts
Created by a couple of Milwaukee interior designers with a quirky sense of humor, a healthy dose of sarcasm and a heaping serving of caring. Check out Enough Said to find fun t-shirts with a message.
